Haas were the first team to show the 2023 livery with Moneygram colors and are the second to show the car after Alfa Romeo. The team directed by Gunther Steiner brought the VF-23 to make its debut at the Silverstone circuit for a filming day allowing us to get the first images of a single-seater that has the ambition to fight for the midfield positions with a pairing of experienced drivers: Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.
Since we will discover the Ferrari SF-23 only next Tuesday in the Maranello presentation, for now we can say that the VF-23 shows a very close relationship with the F1-75. This shouldn’t be surprising at all given that we know how the American customer team is very complementary and close to the Scuderia.
The design area is located in the heart of the Ferrari Racing Division, in the building where Ferrari has the new simulator and the pit stop test room.
Furthermore, Haas uses the wind tunnel and the Prancing Horse simulator, so there is a close link that goes far beyond having Simone Resta, the technical director who is a Ferrari engineer on loan to the USA team, and a qualified group of technicians.
The construction of the parts is entrusted to Dallara, following up on a well-established collaboration: it is therefore no surprise that in addition to the supermarket that Maranello makes available (power unit, gearbox, front and rear suspension, brakes) there is also a clear direction in the basic choices of the car’s hardware.
Haas, therefore, has decided to follow a different path than the the tendency of other teams to converge towards the Red Bull choices: the VF-23 maintains a strong identity of the F1-75, certainly more visible than last year’s car.
The analysis should start from the sidepods: the radiator vents are at the top, wide and narrow according to the recent concept applied to the F1-75. Compared to last year’s Ferrari, there is a more protruding lower area, the only concession to the concepts dear to Milton Keynes. The sides reach their maximum width to prevent the turbulence generated by the front wheel from dirtying the flow around the car, while the sidecut in the lower part of the vents is clearly greater with the goal of increasing the flow rate towards the rear.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
The upper part shows the typical excavation with the gills which have the task of extracting the hot air: the cooling system has been revised. Like the Alfa Romeo C43, the VF-23 can also benefit from smaller radiant masses: the Ferrari 066/7 power unit can afford smaller surfaces without risking overheating, allowing for weight savings and more extreme shapes which should give an advantage in terms of aerodynamics.
The side, therefore, remains high and does not become sloping, but closes near the upper arm of the rear suspension. The floor looks like that of the F1-75 in the Venturi channel intakes: the first two, more internal, are higher, while the two more external ones are clearly lower since you notice a step similar to the one seen on F1-75 red from the French Grand Prix.
In the external wall there is the vertical bulkhead useful for separating the dirty air that arrives from the front wheel, while on the vent of the sidepods the mirror support (larger) can be observed with the flow deviators under the rear view mirror useful for combing out the turbulence higher than the wheel.
The sidewalk at the floor is not too wide: a lot of care has been taken with the inclination of the fences that reach the trailing edge with the aim of pushing the flow well beyond the rear wheel. In the raised plane of 15 mm by regulation it is observed that there is an horizontal opening that Red Bull had copied from Ferrari. The Haas technicians have not given up on the tie rod which has the task of stiffening the floor where there is the area of the elbow where the diffuser rises: the intention is to reach the minimum weight of 798 kg, being able to benefit from a lightened sidewalk which will have to be flexible.
The airbox is triangular in perfect Maranello style and shows the two vertical ears on the sides of the strengthened roll hoop. The engine cover is very slender and narrows quickly, so much so that we notice a dorsal fin with two rather showy crests of different heights. The engine cover in the lower part has a wavy pattern with the trailing edge that tends to descend to improve the downwash of the flows to the advantage of the efficiency of the beam wing.
For now, Haas has chosen two overlapping elements. The rear suspension maintains the pull rod pattern, but the arms have different attachments following the design that we will see on the SF-23. The rear wing is supported by two pylons: for the debut at the Silverstone filming day, a very unloaded configuration was chosen both in the main profile and in the mobile flap.
If we move towards the front, we find a nose that is more excavated in the lower part and which crouches with the nose to the second flap of the front wing, while the main profile has a spoon shape in the central part. Seen in plan view, the wing has very loaded flaps: it seems to be a strategic choice to make the front less sensitive to height variations and, therefore, could be an anti-porpoising solution.
It does not escape the eye that the flaps decrease on the sides to favor the outwash effect, while they are clearly heavier in the central portion. The side bulkhead is rather classic, with the external profile inclined upwards.
The front suspension does not betray the push rod layout: the wishbones are more cambered and the carbon covers are oriented to direct the flows towards the entrance of the Venturi channels. We await images with details and more defined to offer you other evaluations of the VF-23. Simone Resta didn’t look for too many frills trying to extract the maximum potential from his knowledge in the Ferrari field. A project that seems consistent.
Leave a Reply